1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to ballasting means for fluorescent lamps, particularly of the kind that operates on regular household AC voltage but wherein the lamp is supplied with direct current.
2. Cross-Reference to Related Application
The present patent application is related to a previous patent application of mine entitled "Electric Insect Trap", Ser. No. 155,002, filed May 30, 1980.
3. Description of Prior Art
DC ballasting means for fluorescent lamps presently do exist. However, such ballasts are impractical for application in most regular commercial usage situations.
One significant difficulty associated with the practical application of existing types of DC ballasting means is that of the extremely high voltages required for effective lamp starting, which high voltages pose special problems in regard to designing safe lighting fixtures.
For instance, DC ballasting is used in a so-called Shop-Light manufactured by Lights of America, City of Industry, CA 91745; and in that Shop-Light the socket-to-socket voltage provided for each of the two F40/T12 fluorescent lamps therein used is over 900 Volt peak, which compares with less than 300 Volt peak in case of similar Shop-Lights using regular AC ballasts.